It is customary to store carry-on luggage in so-called overhead storage bins or compartments above the rows of seats in an aircraft passenger cabin. Several rows of overhead storage bins or compartments may be mounted above the passenger seats along the center of the ceiling structure and along the corners between the ceiling and the side walls of the cabin. All bins are accessible from an aisle. Conventional storage systems leave room for improvement with regard to the accessibility of individual storage bins. The term bin or bins is used herein interchangeably with the term compartment or compartments, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,269 (Harriehausen et al.) discloses overhead luggage compartments, each of which is equipped with a trough that can be lowered from a closed position to an open position of the individual trough or raised from an open position to a closed position. Such a feature makes it easier for a passenger to reach into a bin independently of the fact whether a passenger is tall or short. However, providing each individual storage bin with a mechanism for raising and lowering the trough in the bin requires a substantial effort and expense. Yet, the use of such facilities may be desirable for certain owners or airlines which may want to order a custom made aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,076 (Schumacher et al.) discloses a luggage compartment system for a passenger cabin, especially in commercial airliners. The system comprises compartment units each formed by at least two compartments interconnected or coupled through a coupling, guide and drive mechanism for moving the compartments of a unit from a closed upper position to an open lower position and vice versa. Each unit has a large compartment and a small compartment, the latter is intended for smaller luggage items, including fragile items, while the larger compartment is intended for large luggage including suitcases. In the closed position the two compartments of a unit are arranged next to each other in a direction extending crosswise to a longitudinal central vertical plane through the aircraft cabin. The compartments have contoured bottom panels that are integrated into the ceiling of the cabin in the closed compartment position. The coupling, guide and drive mechanism moves both compartments of a unit either up or down, whereby the compartments in their down position are located just above the passenger seats for loading and unloading with the smaller compartment being positioned above the larger compartment. openings in the compartments face the central longitudinal plane, that is, the respective aisle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,733 (Schumacher) discloses passenger service units in a passenger cabin, especially of an aircraft. These units include a service module having comfort and service elements such as reading lamps, flight attendant call buttons, loudspeakers, air nozzles, and the like. The service module is mounted on a spring-biased yielding support arm below the bottom shell of an overhead luggage compartment. An end of the support arm is mounted on the cabin wall and extends generally inwardly toward the middle of the cabin, to position the service module generally centrally above the passenger seats that are to be served by the service module. Connector lines such as electrical conductors and air conduits run along the support arm to connect the service module to a service channel extending along the length of the passenger cabin and including electrical conductors, an air duct, and the like. When the bottom shell of the overhead baggage compartment is lowered to open the baggage compartment, the service module yields downward on the spring-biased support arm while remaining fully functional and reachable by the corresponding passengers at all times, and without hindering the opening of the baggage compartment.
While the raising and lowering or tilting features of the troughs in fixed bins greatly improve the accessibility to the troughs, there are limits in the elevational range in which the troughs can be positioned.